How Companies are Addressing the Generation Gap

Boomers resent those "young 'uns" because they arrive at odd hours and seem over-entitled and underworked. Gen Xers get irritated with "know it all" Boomers who refuse to retire, keeping the Gen Xers’ mid-level careers "stuck in neutral." And Gen Yers feel "dumped on" by both, taking on lots of grunt work without much tangible reward. Regardless of whether any of these three impressions are based on fact or questionable biases, CIOs and other senior managers cannot pretend they don't exist. And such acknowledgement is the first step toward resolving these generational differences. The recent book, Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Boomers, Gen Xers, and Gen Yers in the Workplace (Amacom), examines these generational dynamics in depth. And it also highlights the following, real-life prescriptive responses on the part of successful, global companies. One unifying factor within all of these best practices: These organizations recognize that generational diversity can amount to a valuable, corporate asset, as opposed to simply a source of conflict.